


Hairball of A Problem

by soulofair



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: AU, AlwaysaGirl!Merlin - Freeform, Animals, F/M, Female!Merlin, Fluff, Gen, Genderbending, Girl!Merlin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-07
Updated: 2013-02-07
Packaged: 2017-11-28 12:22:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/674351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulofair/pseuds/soulofair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin found herself quite in a predicament one afternoon while Arthur had been out on patrol and left her to her own devices.  Really, the spell shouldn’t have been that difficult to conjure, but she had been distracted and of course, whenever she was distracted, bad things happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hairball of A Problem

**Author's Note:**

> For some reason, the spacing between paragraphs seems to be a bit excessive to me. I'm not sure how to remedy this, but I apologize for the odd spacing. (I could just be paranoid about this)
> 
> Enjoy!

Merlin found herself quite in a predicament one afternoon while Arthur had been out on patrol and left her to her own devices.  Really, the spell shouldn’t have been that difficult to conjure, but she had been distracted and of course, whenever she was distracted, bad things happened.  

 

All she wanted to do was conjure up a kitten.  None of the ratting cats that the castle employed were in heat or had had a litter of kittens recently.  Merlin had really wanted a kitten for a while, but since she would have to wait until some of the female cats were in heat and then another few months before she could squirrel away a kitten, she just wanted to try something temporary.  She just really wanted something to pet and cuddle with for a little while before there were real kittens crawling around the castle.  

 

Apparently, that was just too much to ask.  

 

Merlin went unconscious for a few minutes after she muttered the spell and when she woke, she realized that something was horribly, horribly wrong.  The world seemed much larger than it had been before she had said the spell, and she definitely wasn’t as hairy as she was now.  Scared, she found the closest mirror she could find and was horrified to discover that she had become a cat. 

 

She was now a tiny black cat with fur that stuck up wildly (not at all unlike her hair when she had kept it short for working in Arthur’s stables and running around as his errand girl) and blue eyes.  While that in itself wasn’t great, Merlin found another reason for this situation to leave much to be desired.  She couldn’t figure out what she had done wrong with the spell, and therefore, would be cat for a while.  Probably for the rest of her life if she never figured out what went wrong.  

 

This would make things rather difficult.  

 

***

 

She knew that Arthur would notice that she had disappeared.  He had a real talent for that.  Well, maybe it was the whole bit of them being married and the fact that they shared a bed and were probably together more often that most married couples, but for the sake of the discussion, Arthur had a talent for knowing that she was gone.  And knowing Arthur, he’d send out a whole army of men to go searching for her if she didn’t come up with a good alibi and come up with it fast.  

 

Fortunately, she still had her magic, and while all of her efforts to reverse the spell that had turned her into an admittedly adorable cat had failed miserably, she could still use it for other tasks.  She supposed that she could even polish Arthur’s armor if she wanted.  Not that she wanted to polish his armor; that (among other things) was the whole bit about marriage that she particularly enjoyed.  

 

Arthur would still be out on patrol by the time night fell, and since it was still mid-afternoon, Merlin had some time to pull her plan together.  She found a bit of parchment and through the enchantment of a quill on Arthur’s desk, she left him a note explaining that she had gone to Ealdor since her mother had fallen ill unexpectedly.  She told him not to worry and that she would send word as soon as possible.  And then she added in a few more lines of rather descriptive prose, detailing exactly how she would greet him when she returned, but that was to remain between Merlin and Arthur.  

 

Once she was confident that she had covered her tracks as thoroughly as a small black cat could, she hopped up onto the bed and curled up for a nap.  Being Arthur’s wife left her perpetually exhausted, and that was when they _didn’t_ devote their nights to studying anatomy.  Though, as a cat, it was highly unlikely (or so she so very much sincerely hoped) that her nights wouldn’t be devoted to such wearying activities, so maybe it would be possible that she could catch up on her sleep.  

 

Of course, when Arthur returned, he was alarmed to find that she had gone without notice, and had angrily demanded answers from staff who genuinely had no idea that Merlin had gone either.  His gruff movements and angry stomps around their chambers woke Merlin from her nap.  She lifted her head and peered over the cushy blankets at him, watching as he stoked the fire and grumbled about something or another.  While her hearing was certainly heightened in this new form, she couldn’t make out what he was saying.  

 

He flopped down onto the bed and threw his boots into the corner.  It was good to finally know why the boots never seemed to be placed nicely in the corner how Merlin liked to keep them, but his posture was worrisome.  Something was wrong and Merlin suspected that it had to do with her.  She didn’t think he had found the letter yet.  He would need to find that letter and soon, because there was no telling what he would do if she didn’t come running into the room with twigs in her hair and mud streaked on her forehead as she had the night before.  

 

“Where the bloody hell is she?” he muttered.  “We were supposed to…” 

 

His voice faltered as his eyes fell on what Merlin hoped was the letter on the table.  She had thought about leaving it on the desk, but the table in their chambers was a better place to leave it, especially since she knew that he would make a beeline for their chambers after his long day out on patrol.  These were things that you picked up after looking after daft men like Arthur as Merlin had done since showing up in Camelot.  

 

The bed jostled as Arthur stood up roughly.  He did go for the letter, which Merlin was pleased about, but his reaction was not as she had hoped.  She knew that he had gotten through the bit about her going to Ealdor when his fists balled and he slammed the table.  “Dammit!” he hissed.  “Impossible woman!” 

 

Merlin had never felt comfortable with Arthur’s temper flares.  He was generally a relatively patient man, but whenever it came to her, his patience wore thin.  And it wasn’t necessarily because she made him impatient; she was certainly good at wearing at his patience, but it was more than that.  He worried about her constantly, and of course, the news that your wife going off to her village to tend for her mother without any protection from the knights whom Arthur trusted most everything with would be upsetting.  She realized that this would give her a different perspective on her husband, and as she was seeing, not everything would show Arthur in good light.  

 

Merlin had seen Arthur in far worse positions and when he hadn’t been nearly as good of a man as he was now.  She had seen him grow from the boy that she had met into the man who was going to be an incredible king, and like most people, Arthur had to learn from his mistakes in order to reach his full potential.  He had to have moments of complete insanity and stupidity in order to figure out how to be a better person.  And no one was perfect; not even the golden boy of Albion.  

 

But his temper softened when he got to the rest of her note.  His eyes widened and his ears went pink before he hastily refolded the note and stashed it in a drawer so no one would find it.  After he paced the room for a few minutes, he finally stripped off his tunic and dropped it on the ground and unlaced his trousers before he crawled into bed.  A minute later, he was out of bed again, snuffing out candles that he hadn’t snuffed out before getting into bed.  

 

Arthur tossed and turned for a bit, trying to find the most comfortable position.  Merlin knew that he was having trouble adjusting to the fact that his favorite pillow had apparently gone running off to Ealdor and hadn’t had the decency to give him a little more forewarning.  Eventually, he quieted down and began to snore.  Merlin didn’t really mind the snoring; if she were to have a problem with it, she would have taken up sleeping in different chambers long ago.  

  

***

 

Apparently, Arthur discovered the cat in his bed.  Well, it wasn’t so much as apparently.  Arthur definitely found a cat in his bed and he wasn’t pleased about it.  It wasn’t as though Merlin had climbed onto him and had slept on his face.  She was certainly tempted to crawl up onto him and sleep with her head over his heart, as she always did, but as a cat, she didn’t think this would have the desired effect.  Merlin didn’t get the impression that Arthur was one for cute and cuddly creatures.  He liked them when they were served at feasts, but the only creatures that he seemed to like were his horses and his hunting dogs.  Everything else was pretty much a nuisance to him.  

 

When Arthur discovered the sleeping cat under the blankets the next morning, he blinked for a moment and reached out to poke at the black furry thing.  At first, he thought it was a rat, but when Merlin meowed in surprise, Arthur realized that one of the ratting cats had gotten into his chambers and was livid.  There were people to make sure that the ratting cats didn’t get into the chambers unless absolutely necessary, and unless there was something that Merlin hadn’t told him, there weren’t rats in their chambers.  

 

“Get out of here, cat,” Arthur grumbled as he poked at Merlin’s side.  “Go on, shoo!” 

 

Merlin glared at him before she fell back to sleep.  Prat. 

 

Arthur groaned and intensified his efforts to rid his bed of the cat.  “Go on, get out!” 

 

Merlin closed her eyes and if she could smile, she knew that she’d be smirking.  Maybe Arthur could tell that she was smirking at him.  

 

“Oh good grief… get out!  Shoo, you incorrigible beast!” 

 

Incorrigible beast?  Well, that was certainly something a woman loved hearing her husband call her.  Arthur really knew how to make a girl feel special.  

 

Arthur went to poke her again, and this time, Merlin decided to use her feline ways and teach him a thing or two about cats.  When he poked her, she batted at him.  Confused, Arthur poked at her again, and following suit, Merlin batted at him again.  “Oh?  You want to play?  You snuck into my bed to play?” 

 

Merlin closed her eyes again.  Arthur sat up and reached over to lift her from the bed.  “Okay.  Down you go.  No getting on the bed.  Bad cat.” 

 

He must have thought that was going to deter Merlin, or any cat for that matter, from getting back up onto the bed.  He rolled over and snuggled under the blankets again.  Merlin rolled her eyes and jumped back up into the bedding.  And just to make Arthur really irritated, Merlin climbed onto him and began to knead her paws into the thick and lavish bedding.  Arthur sighed and peered over the blankets at her.  

 

“I told you no getting onto the bed,” he said. 

 

Merlin leaned into his face and immediately regretted it.  His morning breath was absolutely foul.  But, instead of immediately jerking back, she bumped her nose against his and resumed her kneading.  Arthur stared at her in disbelief.  “What is wrong with you?  Are you the idiot of the ratting cats?” he murmured. 

 

But, because Merlin was not going to stand down, and had every intention of making the most of the situation, she didn’t react.  Finally, Arthur sighed and sat up again.  “Okay, fine.  You’re probably hungry.  There aren’t rats in here.”

 

Arthur lifted her up and placed her down onto the floor gently.  He walked over to the table and found that his servant had brought his breakfast already.  He sat down at the table and began to look for something that a cat could eat.  Eventually, Merlin ended up with a bit of chicken, a bit of bread, and some cheese.  She really liked the cheese, though she wasn’t normally a fan of cheese as a human. 

 

After Arthur finished eating and dressed, he picked her up again and walked out of their chambers.  His hold on her was awkward, so she tried to help him hold her properly.  This did not really have the desired effect, but Merlin was surprised when they ended up in Gaius’ chambers. 

 

“Gaius, do you think this cat is a male or a female?” Arthur asked, cradling Merlin close to his body as he walked into Gaius’ chambers. 

 

Gaius glanced up from his workstation and eyed Arthur warily.  “A cat?  I thought you didn’t like cats?”

 

“This one seems to like me,” Arthur replied with a sigh.

 

“Yes, it does appear that’s the case,” Gaius agreed. 

 

Merlin was nearing sleep and had absolutely no intention of letting Arthur move her.  Even though his hold was still awkward and a little uncomfortable, she didn’t like being too far away from him.

 

Gaius stood up and walked over to Arthur.  Gently, Gaius pet Merlin’s back and lifted her from Arthur’s hold.  Displeased, Merlin stretched and yawned, which made Gaius laugh.  “I see we’ve woken the cat from its slumber.”

 

“Well, it’s only fitting; it woke me from my slumber this morning.”

 

“A cat was in your chambers?”

 

“In bed with me.”

 

“How bizarre,” Gaius remarked.

 

He began to examine Merlin, which lead her to think that if she didn’t know Gaius and knew how he was with his patients, she’d be a little offended by the liberties he was taking, especially around her tail.  Eventually, he relaxed and let her sit down in his lap.  She really enjoyed being pet by Gaius.  He wasn’t nearly as annoying as Arthur was. 

 

“This cat is female,” Gaius informed Arthur.  “And by the looks of it, she has a litter on the way.”

 

“A litter of kittens?” Arthur asked, feeling stupid afterwards.

 

Merlin knew that if she were human, her first response would be to roll her eyes tease Arthur about what else a cat would have a litter of. 

 

“Yes, Sire.”

 

“Oh, of course one of the pregnant ratting cats would come and infiltrate my chambers and follow me around.  Probably wants to nest in my chambers.”

 

“Well, at least you know she’s smart,” Gaius laughed.  “Your chambers are far warmer than anything else she would probably find.”

 

Arthur looked down at the cat in Gaius’ arms.  He wasn’t entirely convinced, but there was something about this cat that he was drawn to.  Merlin knew that whether he was aware of it or not, Arthur could sense something human in the cat, and therefore, she was probably not going to be thrown out to fend for herself. 

 

“What are you going to do with her?” Gaius asked after a moment. 

 

Merlin lifted her head and stared up at Arthur, cursing the fact that she was supposed to be a cat and act like a cat and not have very human-like responses to what the humans did.  She hoped Arthur didn’t notice, but for good measure, she buried her face back into the crook of Gaius’ arm.  Arthur chuckled at her movement and sighed.  “Well, Merlin will be pleased to know that a litter of kittens is on the way.  She’s been trying to get her hands on a cat for a while.  I’m starting to think she put the cat in the chambers.”

 

Arthur crossed his arms and tilted his head.  “You didn’t know about Hunith, did you?” he asked Gaius.  “I’m worried that she’s walking into a trap.”

 

“Arthur, I’m sure Merlin is fine.  She has her magic and is far cleverer than you like to give her credit for.  Besides, she adores her mother and it’s been a while since she’s been back in Ealdor.  I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

 

“I know… I know that she’ll be fine.  I just worry.  I worry all the time.”

 

“Yes, you do, Sire.  And it’s good that you care about her, but she does need a little independence now and then.  She managed to survive without you before she arrived in Camelot.”

 

“Barely,” Arthur snorted. 

 

“She’s far more capable than you know.”

 

Merlin began to purr, pleased with Gaius’ reprimands.  She should have metamorphosed into an unassuming animal and spied on the castle when everyone thought she was gone ages ago… the things she would have learned sooner if she had done that would have been quite useful.  Besides, it was nice hearing Gaius stick up for her and Arthur verbalize that he needed her.  Even though she knew that this was not abnormal behavior, it was still nice to hear these things. 

 

Arthur reached down and scooped her up from Gaius’ arms.  “I suppose I should probably take her back to wherever she came from.”

 

“Are you going to take her back to your chambers?”

 

“I don’t know.  I don’t know if I want to have a cat running around in my chambers.”

 

“She could be good companionship while Merlin’s away.”

 

Merlin wondered if Gaius knew the true identity of the cat and had figured her out.  Arthur lifted her up and made eye contact with her.  His fingers dug into her skin and she was really uncomfortable by how he was holding her.  She let out a pitiful meow and Arthur sighed.  “She won’t last a day if I send her back out with the ratting cats.  Clearly, she’s inside for a reason.”

 

“So you are going to take her back to your chambers?”

 

Arthur glanced down at her again and sighed.  “I might need to.”

 

Although it had been a triumph that she had been able to get her way without more than being adorable, on the way back up to their chambers, Merlin realized that was petrified.  The only explanation she could find for her feline form being pregnant was that her human form was pregnant too. And she was absolutely certain that that wasn’t the case.  She was certain that she would know that she was pregnant.  Of course, it would be impossible to pinpoint when she could have conceived, since she and Arthur were hardly abstinent.  If she had actually been out of the chambers, it could have been remotely possible that one of the tomcats could have gotten her up the duff, but she knew that she had to be very careful to stay away from other cats, in the off chance that they turned on her and she didn’t know what to do. 

 

As she always did when she was bothered, she hurried to the bed (after Arthur had closed her into their chambers) and burrowed herself under the blankets.  She curled up into as tight of a ball as she could and sat, wide-eyed and shocked that she hadn’t noticed this before.  How far along was she? 

 

When Arthur came to bed much later, he turned down the bed and chuckled when he found her curled up under the blankets.  “You’re a bold little cat, aren’t you?” he remarked quietly. 

 

He crawled into bed and shifted around until he was comfortable.  Once she was certain that he was asleep, Merlin curled up next to Arthur and fell asleep.  He was warm and if he didn’t like that she was so close to him, he would just have to deal with it.  It was her bed too. 

 

***

 

The next few days were spent lounging around and languidly exploring the castle from a feline perspective.  Merlin had no issue with most doors (magic was such a wonderful thing), so she basically had full reign of the castle.  She would follow Arthur down to the training grounds and watch lazily from some warm and sunny spot until she tired of that and trotted away.  Sometimes, she would saunter into Gaius’ chambers and see what he was up to.  The old man didn’t mind her company, but she could tell that he wasn’t too keen on having her around, especially since a lot of the ratting cats were infested with fleas and other unsightly pests.  They were not meant to be indoors or to be pets. 

 

One thing Merlin came to really appreciate about Arthur’s desk was that it was right under a window that received a lot of sunlight.  Since she was a cat and could afford to be lazy, she had had a lot of time to sleep and wander around the castle.  And because she basically had Arthur wrapped around her little paw, Merlin knew that she could get away with sleeping on his desk. 

 

One afternoon, a week after this fiasco started, she sauntered into his study and meowed at him.  Arthur didn’t glance up from his work, but she saw a little smile form on his face.  “Hello cat,” he murmured.  “I was wondering when you’d figure out where I went.”

 

Merlin rubbed around his trousers and the legs of the chair before she reached up to the seat of the chair and batted at his thigh.  She meowed softly and sweetly (knowing he was a sucker for soft and sweet talk) up at him and he reached down and gently lifted her up into his lap, avoiding her abdomen in the fear of crushing a kitten or two.  Once she was in his lap, she rubbed against his tunic and circled around as much as she could, given the space between his chest and the desktop. 

 

Finally, she gave up on lying down, so instead, she braced her front paws against his chest and bumped her nose against his before she proceeded to step onto the desk and make her way to the pile of papers that was directly in the sun.  Arthur knew she was going for the paperwork, but instead of deterring her, he sighed softly and moved an inkwell from the area so she could lie down.  She meowed in gratitude and curled up for a nap in the sun.  Arthur’s soft stroking didn’t escape her notice, and she began to purr. 

 

***

 

When Merlin realized just how lonely Arthur was without her by his side (her human form, that is), her heart broke.  There was only so much she could do as a cat, but if following him around all day helped distract him from her humanly absence, that would be what she would do.  She followed him out to the training grounds, to his meetings with his advisors, and basically everywhere else he went, unless he was going out of Camelot, as he did about two weeks after Merlin turned herself into a cat. 

 

Upon returning, Arthur found Merlin curled up on the bed and laughed.  He wasn’t expecting anything different.  After kicking off his boots and changing out of his sullied clothes, he got into bed and sighed heavily.  It was difficult to discern whether it was a despondent or relieved sigh, but Merlin knew that it was his way of saying that he could use a little company.  She sidled up next to him and snuggled into the cushy blanket.  

 

Arthur rolled onto his side and smiled at her.  “You’re a good cat.  A little weird, but weird is okay,” he murmured. 

 

He began to stroke her back; his strong fingers got at all the places that Merlin couldn’t scratch as a cat.  She began to purr, and to her dismay, let out a few very pleased meows.  Merlin knew that in her human form, this would be the equivalent of her crying out with immense pleasure, and she cursed the pregnancy hormones for making it so effortless for Arthur to knock her over the edge.  Much to her chagrin, she rolled over onto her side, indicating that it was okay for Arthur to scratch her belly.  Arthur laughed and gently scratched there too.  Merlin let out another very pleased meow and if cats could blush, she was certain she’d be as red as Arthur’s cloak. 

 

If she weren’t so damned comfortable on the bed, she’d be running off to hide in shame. 

 

Speaking of running off to hide in shame, Merlin wondered what would happen when she was human again.  Surely, Arthur would demand answers about the baby that she figured she’d still carry when she was human again.  The more she had thought about it, the more it made sense that she was pregnant as a human.  All the signs had been there; she had just been too ignorant (distracted was probably a better way of putting it) to the blinding reality that she carried the heir to the throne.  And it was terrifying to think that in a few months’ time, if everything went to plan and she was back to normal soon, she was going to be a parent.

 

They had been married for a few years, and it wasn’t as if they didn’t try to have a child.  It just wasn’t that easy to take the time to do things properly.  Arthur was always running off to do something and Merlin would invariably follow after him, and eventually, their routine involved frequent, but quick little episodes left and right that didn’t always lead to anything that could produce an heir.  No one else was necessarily concerned about the lack of an heir, so they didn’t worry about it.  

 

But now, things were really different.  Merlin knew exactly which room would be designated to be the royal nursery.  She knew the exact gown the child would be christened in.  She knew the protocols and traditions surrounding the birth, and knew to expect that more than a few strangers would wander into the room at some point either before or after the birth to extend their congratulations while Merlin labored through, sweaty and red.  She knew her role in this world, and now that it was time to take this next step, she was worried. 

 

She missed being human.

 

***

 

During the middle of week three, she caught her first mouse.  It was a terrible experience and she couldn’t believe she could be so horrible.  Merlin had no idea what had come over her, but apparently, as a cat, her hunting skills were far superior and pretty much acted on their own accord.  She had seen a mouse, she had stalked the mouse without meaning to, and without any warning she had pounced on it and had killed it. 

 

The poor thing couldn’t have been any bigger than one of the kittens she presumed she carried in her belly, and that made her feel even worse. 

 

So, the most logical thing for her to do was to take the poor little mouse to Arthur to show him that she wasn’t as rubbish at hunting as he liked to think.  Not that she was showing off or anything. 

 

Her mournful offering pleased Arthur.  Upon seeing the dead mouse, he reached down and stroked her head, making sure to scratch behind her ears because he had quickly learned that that was one of her favorite spots, and offered her a bit of chicken from his plate.  “Good cat,” he said before he returned to his meal.

 

It did nothing to make her feel better, but she did enjoy when he scratched her ears. 

 

***

 

She was always hungry now, a month after turning herself into a cat.  Always.  But Arthur wasn’t always so keen to get up and feed her.  This was a problem.  However, she figured out how to get him up and to get him to feed her. 

 

Arthur had a habit of sleeping on his stomach.  He buried his face into the pillow and whenever Merlin, in her human form, tried to wake him, he would bury his face into the pillow even more and mutter something in protest to her efforts to wake him.  Merlin, as a cat, knew that this was more than advantageous for her plan.

 

Since she slept on the bed next to him, it wasn’t too difficult to gauge his level of consciousness.  When she could tell that he was starting to come around, she would climb up onto his back and begin kneading him, purring and meowing softly to wake him up.  She never used her claws, although there were a few incidents at the beginning when she was still getting used to the dexterity of her paws and she had accidentally scratched him.  The response she got from that wasn’t positive, but she tucked that knowledge away for any potential situations where she needed to get him up in a hurry. 

 

“Ugh… cat… it’s too early,” Arthur groaned when Merlin jumped onto his back and began to do her little routine of waking him up. 

 

She meowed impatiently and he sighed heavily into his pillow.  “Fine.  I’m getting up, so move.”

 

Merlin hopped off of him and waded through the blankets to the foot of the bed, where she watched as Arthur broke off a few bits of food for her and set it down onto the bench for her.  “There you go,” he announced quietly before he retreated to the bed and buried himself under the blankets. 

 

Merlin meowed appreciatively and then hurried to scarf down the food.  She knew that it would be impossible for her to take anything off of Arthur’s plate without causing a huge commotion, but Arthur was good about leaving some food untouched, especially when he was concerned about getting into fighting shape (as he was currently focused on, with an important tournament coming up in a few weeks’ time).  Merlin could scrounge for whatever was left on Arthur’s plate. 

 

Gods, she really couldn’t wait to be a human again.  She wanted to eat real food that Arthur didn’t have to pick apart for her.  And she wanted a bath.  A proper bath, not the tongue-bath she had finally figured out how to do. 

 

***

 

It was five weeks after Merlin ‘left for Ealdor’ when she finally figured out a solution for her predicament.  The spell that she found that would reverse her mistake was a bit complex, but there was no reason why she wouldn’t be able to conjure the spell and be back to her old (albeit possibly pregnant) self without issue. 

 

The spell worked marvelously, and before she retreated to their chambers, she examined herself for any visible signs of pregnancy.  Much to her delight (a frightened delight), her belly was already starting to show the signs that she was with child, and her breasts were much larger than she remembered.  She didn’t know why the fact that her breasts were larger amused her as much as it did. 

 

When she quietly slipped into the room, she saw Arthur roll over and pat the bed sleepily.  His hand roamed over the blankets, and Merlin knew that he was looking for her, but not in this form.  Quietly, she placed her hand over his.  “Arthur?” she asked quietly.

 

He turned his head over to look at her.  Though there wasn’t much sunlight yet, it was still possible to see his face clearly.  He blinked at her sleepily and smiled.  “You’re back,” he murmured. 

 

“Yeah.  I’m sorry I had to leave on such short notice.  I hope my letters reached you well.”

 

He nodded against the pillow.  “I missed you.”

 

“I missed you too,” she answered.

 

“Where’s the cat?” Arthur asked quietly.

 

“The cat?”

 

“You know… the little black one that was here a little while ago?”

 

“I don’t know.  I didn’t see a cat when I came in.”

 

“Hmm… that’s weird.  She usually sleeps here.”

 

“Strange.  I didn’t know you were impartial to cats.”

 

“I’m not.  She sort of just imposed herself and I figured there was no use in trying to shoo her away since she’d just be back again later.”

 

Merlin laughed, realizing that she was exhausted.  After a grueling spell and adjusting to being a human after being a cat for more than a month, she really wanted to sleep.  She was wearing the outfit she had been wearing when she became a cat, so she needed to strip down to her shift before she could crawl into bed next to Arthur.  It was difficult to say which missed her more: the bed, or Arthur. 

 

While the bed was probably more comfortable as it had ever been for her human form, Arthur, after her long absence, knew how to make her more comfortable than anything else.  He wrapped his arm around her abdomen, and his hand froze over Merlin’s belly.  She knew that that he had to be close to figuring it out.  “Merlin?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“What is this?”

 

“That would be my abdomen.”

 

“No… what is _this_?”

 

He would notice something as subtle as that.  His fingers curled around the bump, almost completely covering all of it.  “Oh, that…” she answered as she feigned ignorance and replied as innocently as possible.  “That would be a child.”

 

“And whose child might this be?”

 

She swatted the side of his head and Arthur chuckled.  “An heir for Camelot.  Thank god.”

 

“Yes, and you better not forget it!”

 

He turned over onto his side so he could see her better.  “You know, it’s weird; the cat is pregnant too.  Black fur, blue eyes.  You’d really like her, actually.  Rather keen on following me around… liked sleeping…”

 

His face fell and he gaped at her.  “Wait a moment.  You’re the cat, aren’t you?  You were the cat.  You weren’t in Ealdor; you were the cat following me around all that time.”

 

“I’m surprised you didn’t figure it out sooner.”

 

“Well, I would be lying if I said that the thought crossed my mind, but now that you mention it, there really isn’t any reason why I shouldn’t have figured that out.”

 

“You’re a bit dim sometimes?” she suggested.

 

“You haven’t said how you ended up as a cat.  My suspicions say that you brought it about with some disaster stemming from magic.”

 

There were just some things that Merlin couldn’t let Arthur relish in.  This was one of them. 

 

Knowing that he was right about Merlin’s magic going awry, Arthur began to drag his fingers back and forth across Merlin’s belly.  Much to her dismay, she began to purr.  She couldn’t control it, and the longer he did it, the louder it got.  He figured out what was going on and his hand froze.  “Are you… purring?” he asked. 

 

“No.”

 

“Yes you are!”

 

“Oh, fine.  Yes, I’m purring!”

 

He began to laugh and he resumed stroking her belly.  “Well, you did enjoy that as a cat, so I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t feel differently about it now…”

 

“Shut up, Arthur,” she snapped.

 

“My little cat,” he teased.

 

“Well, by that logic, I will scratch your eyeballs out,” she warned.

 

As much as she didn’t want to, she really did enjoy him doing that.  There was something about his fingers (oh, the things those fingers could do) that brought her back to base and reminded her that as long as she was at his side and he was at her side, they would be fine.  Even as a cat, she was fine. 

 

After an hour of lying there quietly, Arthur’s hand came to rest.  “You know, the purring thing is a little weird.”

 

“You like it,” she muttered.

 

He chuckled.  “You’re right; I do.”

 

Merlin rolled her eyes and sighed.  “Merlin?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“The baby is a… baby, right?”

 

“How do you mean?”

 

“You know… it’s not going to come out as a cat, right?”

 

“Unless you’re part cat or something, that doesn’t seem likely.”

 

Eventually, they drifted off to sleep.  When they woke the next morning, it was obvious that it was later than they usually slept, but there was something else different about the situation.  Arthur was awake before Merlin, and when Merlin woke, she saw that he was staring at something.  “What is it?” she asked him groggily.

 

Arthur reached down towards his feet and procured something that Merlin couldn’t see until he had brought it up to the head of the bed.  “A kitten.”

 

“A kitten?”

 

The little black kitten with blue eyes meowed pitifully and Arthur jerked his gaze down to Merlin.  There was horror in his eyes, and she could only infer what could be the cause of his fear.  “Merlin…?”

 

“I swear, it wasn’t me!” she replied quickly.   

 

 

Fin.


End file.
